Iowa Renewable Fuels Association executive director Monte Shaw says he does not expect a shift in support for Iowa’s ethanol industry when Democrats become the majority in Iowa’s congressional delegation next year.
Iowa voters are sending five new members to serve in the U.S. House and Senate next year, four of whom are Democrats. “One of the areas where they do agree with is, like, clean fuels,” Shaw said, “so like the 45Z tax credit, which will help farmers adopt practices and not only lower the carbon intensity of their corn and soybeans, but also help with water quality, so I think that is an area of commonality that we could work on.”
Shaw uses th phrase “champions of ethanol” to describe exiting U.S. House members Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, Zach Nunn and Randy Feenstra and U.S. Senator Joni Ernst. “Now our new folks, I call them ‘supporters,’” Shaw said. “Now that’s not criticism, but to be a champion you have some experience, you have to know the details, you have to have your staff up to speed and you have to be willing to make it one of your priorities. I think that with these new folks that were elected we will have champions, but it’s going to take time to get there.”
Shaw said t’s too soon tell whether Governor-elect Rob Sand will be as big a booster of renewable fuels as his predecessors Terry Branstad and Kim Reynolds, but Shaw notes Sand visited Iowa ethanol plants and publicly stated his support for ethanol during the campaign. “It doesn’t take long to figure out how the Iowa economy goes is based on how the farm economy goes and the one thing we can do to really boost that is to boost demand for biofuels,” Shaw said. “So, again, regardless of party if you’re from the Midwest, you tend to understand that, you tend to be supportive because it’s one of those things you can actually impact and so we look forward to working with Governor-elect Sand and we’ll see how it goes.”
Shaw called the re-election of Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig (NEGG) was a relief to the ethanol industry. Naig’s opponent, Democrat Chris Jones, questioned the environmental benefits of ethanol and called for shifting away from ethanol production as a way to boost the diversity of crops grown in Iowa. “It would have been really annoying to have the secretary of agriculture quoted by oil state senators, quoted by the New York Times or the LA Times or the Washington Post trashing ethanol,” Shaw said.
Iowa has 42 ethanol plants that produce about 28% of the nation’s ethanol, but the total number of gallons produced in Iowa has been stagnant for the past three years.
